Accessing Donor Information in Australia Paper

Caroline Lorbach and myself have just had a paper published in a special edition of the Journal of Law and Medicine which focuses on donor conception here in Australia.
http://sites.thomsonreuters.com.au/journals/2012/06/15/journal-of-law-and-medicine-update-june-2012/

Here is the abstract:

Accessing donor conception information in Australia: A call for retrospective access – Damian Adams and Caroline Lorbach

Donor conception practices in Australia have left thousands of donor-conceived people, their families and gamete donors bereft of information. The lack of a nationally timeline-consistent approach to information access has driven these people to seek support and information from self-help groups, online communities and even their own DNA. This article examines the historical perspective of information access and how progress is being made through lobbying and public awareness. To determine the current status of information availability, fertility clinics around Australia were surveyed. It is argued that current practices continue to fail donor-conceived people, their families and gamete donors, and that until all donor offspring are afforded the right to know their genetic family history, they will continue to suffer discrimination, and potentially risk psychological and physical trauma.

Aussie Research on the Views of Donors and Recipient Parents

For any Aussie's out there that fall into the donor or recipient parent category please consider taking part in the following research study.

Attitudes to Disclosure in Donor Conception Study


Researchers at The University of Western Australia and Concept Fertility Centre are investigating the reasons people choose to tell or not to tell members of their family and wider social network about their involvement in donor conception.

Who can participate?
• Recipients of sperm, eggs or embryos, and their partners
• Donors of sperm, eggs or embryos

What is involved?
• Completion of an anonymous online (or paper) questionnaire. The questionnaire takes about 15-20 minutes.
• Project information and access to the questionnaire is available in the Research Section of the Perth IVF Website http://www.perthivf.com/research.html OR
• Email Dr Kathy Sanders for a paper copy
More information
• Please contact Assistant Professor Kathy Sanders at the School of Anatomy, Physiology & Human Biology, The University of Western Australia.
Email kathy.sanders@uwa.edu.au